Successful Second-Saturday Debut
Rio and I had a fabulous time this weekend hosting the first of our monthly 'Second Saturday' parties. We ended up having a good group of 13 over at our place for an evening of food, drink, and games.
The caterer in me had a hay-day in the kitchen concocting the assortment of eats and making the usually neglected Cuisinart earn its keep. I was particularly please that, after the inevitable internal struggle over how-much-of-what-to-make played itself out, estimated proportions appropriately and struck a balance between having a decent spread and minimal leftovers.
On the Buffet Menu we had:
~Creamy Red Pepper & Yogurt Hummus with Veggies, Pita, and Crackers
~Fig, Caramelized Onion & Goat Cheese Stuffed Pastry Braid
~Pasta Salad with a Lemony Sun-Dried Tomato & Arugula Pesto, Artichoke Hearts, Mushrooms & Fennel
~Spanish Style Chicken Skewers with Garlicky Orange-Saffron Sauce
The brewmeister and bartender in Rio gave a little tour of his brewing set up and know-how to the curious, and sold quite a few people on one of his personal favorite cocktails, The Batiste, over the course of the evening.
On Tap at the Bar we had:
~Sparkling Mango-Passion Fruit Juice with Muddled Raspberries
~Rum, Vodka, Peach Schnapps, Apricot Brandy, Etc. to spike it with
~Batistes: equal parts Gold Rum & Grand Marnier layered with a splash of Grenadine
~Homebrewed Creamy Brown Ale
~Homebrewed Dry Apple Cider
Eventually we got the intended game-night theme rolling and all crammed around the table for a rousing 3-Team Face-Off of Taboo. A few people called it a night after that, but the remaining 9 of us hung out later for more chatting and an amusing personality guessing game called Imaginiff that Chris & Christine had brought.
All in all it was a dandy time and I'm very much looking forward to our next one.
The caterer in me had a hay-day in the kitchen concocting the assortment of eats and making the usually neglected Cuisinart earn its keep. I was particularly please that, after the inevitable internal struggle over how-much-of-what-to-make played itself out, estimated proportions appropriately and struck a balance between having a decent spread and minimal leftovers.
On the Buffet Menu we had:
~Creamy Red Pepper & Yogurt Hummus with Veggies, Pita, and Crackers
~Fig, Caramelized Onion & Goat Cheese Stuffed Pastry Braid
~Pasta Salad with a Lemony Sun-Dried Tomato & Arugula Pesto, Artichoke Hearts, Mushrooms & Fennel
~Spanish Style Chicken Skewers with Garlicky Orange-Saffron Sauce
The brewmeister and bartender in Rio gave a little tour of his brewing set up and know-how to the curious, and sold quite a few people on one of his personal favorite cocktails, The Batiste, over the course of the evening.
On Tap at the Bar we had:
~Sparkling Mango-Passion Fruit Juice with Muddled Raspberries
~Rum, Vodka, Peach Schnapps, Apricot Brandy, Etc. to spike it with
~Batistes: equal parts Gold Rum & Grand Marnier layered with a splash of Grenadine
~Homebrewed Creamy Brown Ale
~Homebrewed Dry Apple Cider
Eventually we got the intended game-night theme rolling and all crammed around the table for a rousing 3-Team Face-Off of Taboo. A few people called it a night after that, but the remaining 9 of us hung out later for more chatting and an amusing personality guessing game called Imaginiff that Chris & Christine had brought.
All in all it was a dandy time and I'm very much looking forward to our next one.